My Favorite Cookies

It doesn’t matter how many cookie recipes I dog-ear or bookmark. I’ve tried everything from tuiles to the famous Word Peace cookies. These gingersnaps will always, always be my favorite cookie EVER.

I don’t mean to go over the top, but I love these cookies. I am in love with them. I love them down to the last detail.

First of all, they are beautiful. I’ve never made any cookie that is this consistantly perfect. Chocolate chip cookies come out misshapen and flat, sugar cookies always seem to brown unevenly, even oatmeal raisin cookies can come out bland – never these cookies. Every single cookie comes out a perfectly round circle, beautifully cracked, and sparkling with big crystals of sugar. And the flavor! Cinnamon is my favorite spice, and these cookies have the perfect balance of sweet and spicy.

Love!

Really, I could keep raving, and I’m trying not to go overboard. But if you’re not already sold and measuring out the sugar, I won’t feel bad about continuing. The texture of these cookies is just right; they’re lightly crisp around the edges and chewy in the middle. The cookies are (in my opinion) the best size, gone in three bites and leaving you wanting more. You don’t even a mixer. It only takes two bowls. The dough takes 5 minutes to make! Plus, plus, they’re only 60 calories a cookie. Not that that matters. :)

On another note… I’m enjoying the last days of my spring break and decided to make myself a light box for my photography. I had all the materials on hand, so it was free, instructions courtesy of Strobist. These were my first photos using it… I’m pretty pleased with the results, although I was using natural sunlight. I’ll have to see how it works with artificial lighting.

But back to the gingersnaps. Please, please do yourself a favor and make these.

While I wouldn’t suggest messing with a good thing, you could easily add mini chocolate chips or lemon zest to these cookies. These cookies are perfect on their own, but I always dunk mine in milk. I also suspect, since all the cookies are uniform circles, that these would make great ice cream sandwiches (vanilla? Maybe peach ice cream.)

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt in a medium bowl. In another bowl, combine together the brown sugar, molasses, canola oil, and egg until smooth. Mix the flour mixture into the brown mixture, stirring until dough comes together. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop up bits of dough by the heaping teaspoonful and roll into balls between your palms, about the size of a quarter. Roll the balls in sugar and place on the baking sheets 2 inches apart. Bake 8 minutes – if you like crispy gingersnaps, try 9-10 minutes.

Cookies will be very soft but will firm up. Leave on the baking sheet several minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Thanks! These came out well. I had no parchment paper, no “Pam”, and the cookies came off the pan without trouble. Doubled the ginger, added a big teaspoonful of ground pepper, and used coarse salt. The salt holds together, so you get occosional salty bursts along with the sweet.

I love the recipe! Seriously, you are the best there is recipe-wise with these!! I tried them out with a different mixture of flour since I’m Celiac’s, but omg they turned out perfect for each one! An the best part is…..? XD I’m the only in my family who likes ginger snaps so I get the whole batch to myself!! ^_~

Is the batter supposed to be super runny? After i added the flour it was like goo. I was sure i did it wrongly so i added more flour. But it affected the baking. It didnt melt and crack nicely like yours.

Made these tonight, and they turned out great!! I made mini ones, so I used my small cookie scoop and divided one scoop in half to make 2 cookies. Baked for 5 1/2 minutes. So cute, and perfect size for my kids. The texture really is perfect. Thanks for the great recipe!

Hi Elissa!! I absolutely adore your blog and your chattering on and on about these cookies… haha! I’m planning on making these on Thursday for my friends that are coming over! :) Thank you for sharing!

Looks yummy, anyone know if you could substitute pumkin pie spice for the ginger, cloves, and cinnamon? And how much? I thought it would give them more flavor, but idk how much to use. Id love to here your feedback. Thanks

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I never make comments on receipe a but for this one I had to!!!! These cookies are AMAZING! Absolutely perfect! Seriously they were super easy to make and came out bakery looking perfect! I used vegetable oil instead of canola and it worked just fine! The flavor of the cookie was exactly perfect and chewy in the middle…I was shocked at how awesome these came out! If you are thinking of trying it…stop thinking and try it, you will not be disappointed :)! I am an avid baker and try receipes all the time (as bakery and store bought baked goods are simply nasty) this receipe by far exceeded my expectations and will go in my receipe box for years to come!

[…] Ginger snaps have been by far one of the easiest cookies I have ever made and the beauty of this recipe is that it is dummy proof. If you are feeling a bit bored and snackish, I can definitely recommend […]